Will Bunch

Posted:
Wednesday, May 27, 2009, 1:33 PM

You know that "cone of silence" that John McCain supposedly sat in so he couldn't hear Barack Obama or the questions that he would be asked next in Saturday nights' values forum with "Purpose-Driven Life" pastor Rick Warren?

Mr. Warren, the pastor of Saddleback, had assured the audience while he was interviewing Mr. Obama that “we have safely placed Senator McCain in a cone of silence” and that he could not hear the questions.

After Mr. Obama’s interview, he was joined briefly by Mr. McCain, and the candidates shook hands and embraced.

Mr. Warren started by asking Mr. McCain, “Now, my first question: Was the cone of silence comfortable that you were in just now?”

Mr. McCain deadpanned, “I was trying to hear through the wall.”

People who watched the debate instantly wondered about that after McCain came on the program; he acted as if he anticipated many of the questions and in one case seemed to answer something he hadn't been asked yet. Now it seems those wonderers may have been onto something.

ORLANDO, Fla. — Senator John McCain was not in a “cone of silence” on Saturday night while his rival, Senator Barack Obama, was being interviewed at the Saddleback Church in California.

Members of the McCain campaign staff, who flew here Sunday from California, said Mr. McCain was in his motorcade on the way to the church as Mr. Obama was being interviewed by the Rev. Rick Warren, the author of the best-selling book “The Purpose Driven Life.”

Not that this is the scandal of the century, but I'm a little disappointed in Rick Warren here -- what in the h-e-double-toothpicks did the good pastor think he was talking about, then? As for McCain, check out his team's response to that, as highlighted earlier by Atrios:

“The insinuation from the Obama campaign that John McCain, a former prisoner of war, cheated is outrageous,” Ms. Wallace said.

You get that, America? A former POW simply cannot cheat, period -- even 40 years later. It's like some kind of lifetime "get out of accusations free" card, apparently.

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Will Bunch, a senior writer at the Philadelphia Daily News, blogs about his obsessions, including national and local politics and world affairs, the media, pop music, the Philadelphia Phillies, soccer and other sports, not necessarily in that order.

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